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xkcd #2907: Schwa (imgs.xkcd.com)

submitted 8 months ago by randomaccount43543@lemmy.world to c/xkcd@lemmy.world

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https://xkcd.com/2907

Alt text:

Doug's cousin, the one from London, runs a Bumble love cult.

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[–] WoahWoah@lemmy.world 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

Interestingly, "ʌ" is not used in many American linguistics sources, from Merriam Webster to Google Translate. In American English and many dialects of British English (and many others), there is little to no difference between 'ʌ' and 'ə.' I believe 'ʌ' is considered an allophone of 'ə,' which aren't always listed for vowel sounds in IPA.

The distinction is called the comma-strut split (referenced in the xkcd explainer), and occurs in a minority of English dialects apparently. I didn't realize Australian English was one of them! Cool.